Bruins need to answer a wakeup call this weekend

Friday

Apr 11, 2014 at 7:59 PMApr 11, 2014 at 8:04 PM

The Bruins may be on the verge of clinching the NHL's best record, but they're also not playing like the team that was practically unbeatable in March. Coach Claude Julien has warned his players to pick up their games now, or it may be hard to do so in the playoffs.

Mike Loftus The Patriot Ledger

Theoretically, and perhaps even mathematically, this doesn’t make much difference.

Even if the Bruins don’t earn a single point this weekend, they could still finish first overall in the NHL. And even if they don’t win the Presidents Trophy and earn home ice for as long as they’re in the playoffs, finishing first in the Eastern Conference has already given them up to three Game 7s, if necessary.

For the record, the B’s need only two points over this season-ending weekend’s games against Buffalo (12:30 p.m. Saturday, NESN Plus, WBZ-FM/98.5) and New Jersey (3 p.m. Sunday, NESN, WBZ-FM/98.5) to beat out the Anaheim Ducks, the only other team with a chance to finish No. 1.

Earning points isn’t the point this weekend, though. The B’s have gone flat since ripping it up in March (15-1-1) and a weekend of unfocused, uninspired hockey isn’t what they need with their playoff opener around the corner.

Four losses (three in extra time) in the last five games wouldn’t be such a big deal if the Bruins were putting in 60-minute efforts, but they’re not.

The most obvious proof is that in this week’s shootout losses at Minnesota and Winnipeg, the B’s gave up one-goal leads inside the last two minutes of regulation. Similarly, in the 3-2 loss at Detroit on April 2 that ended a 16-game unbeaten-in-regulation streak, the Bruins had a third-period lead until surrendering two goals within 1:42.

There have been other signs that the Bs’s are, in the words of coach Claude Julien, “disinterested.” The Bruins have been below 50 percent in the faceoff circle in the four losses. They gave up power-play goals in three straight games at one point. They’re not allowing an alarming number of shots on goal, but they have surrendered more legitimate scoring chances than usual and spent more time in the defensive zone than in the attacking zone.

Granted, this five-game stretch (1-1-3) coincides with Julien starting to take at least one forward and one defenseman out of the lineup per game, for the purpose of resting them or letting minor injuries heal. And a case can be made that Thursday’s 2-1, shootout loss wasn’t so bad at all, considering that three of their (and the NHL’s) dominant defensive players – goalie Tuukka Rask, center Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Zdeno Chara – weren’t in the lineup.

Julien isn’t buying it, though, and he can be expected to demand that everyone buy back into the system this weekend.

“Just because you rest players doesn’t mean you want your team to relax,” he said. “If you’re going to get dressed and you’re going to play, you’ve got to play hard, no matter what.”

The coach obviously didn’t think that happened on Thursday in Winnipeg, going so far as to say “Every once in a while, your players will disappoint you. This is one of them.”

However Julien sets his lineup on Saturday and Sunday, the Bruins can’t afford to take the weekend off. If not a playoff mentality, they must at least focus as they did during their tremendous run in March when there was almost no doubt they’d win if they were ahead, tied, or even just within striking distance entering the third period. The B’s wore teams out and put them away.

Whether it’s human nature, boredom, overconfidence or whatever else (since he has all but eliminated practices over the last several weeks, Julien doesn’t think it’s fatigue), the Bruins have lately invited opponents to stay in games. That’s a potential killer in the playoffs, whether their first-round foe is Columbus, Detroit or Philadelphia. All were possibilities entering the weekend.

“Hopefully, it’s just a bit of a phase that we’re going through and we can pick up our game,” Julien warned.

“I keep telling these guys: Bad habits can creep in quickly and they’re hard to break. Hopefully, we got that message.”

AROUND THE BOARDS

Center Ryan Spooner, who played Thursday in Winnipeg on an emergency recall, was sent back to AHL Providence on Friday ... The Bruins signed forward Brian Ferlin, their fourth-round draft choice in 2011 (No. 121 overall), to an entry level contract. Ferlin will skip his senior season at Cornell.

Mike Loftus may be reached at mloftus@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @MLoftus_Ledger.